#Marketwire is your quick summary of notable market movements in the technology industry. The organisations covered in this segment include Snapdeal, Snapdeal, DIPP, Paytm and Alibaba.

Snapdeal Shifts Away from Pure Play Marketplace Model

Following the strategy adopted by its peers Flipkart & Amazon, now Snapdeal too has set up its own wholesale unit. This marks the company’s shift from a purely marketplace model, as it would now by retailing its own inventory.

While there hasn’t been any official announcement from Snapdeal, the firm has set up a subsidiary E-Agility Solutions Pvt. Ltd for sourcing inventory largely from fashion brands, and to fund vendors. Both Flipkart and Amazon have been riding high with their respective vendor entities WS Retail and Cloudtail. Could this be the missing piece for Snapdeal to move ahead in the game? Read More

India to Reach 500M Internet Users by 2020

According to Google’s Asia Pacific Language Head, Richa Singh Chitranshi, India will have 500 million users by 2020. Additionally, Chitranshi expressed that 65% of India accesses Internet through mobile phones. A majority of India’s connected population would use Internet in vernacular languages.

This data is slightly pessimistic against BCG’s prediction estimating that the rural India itself will have 315 million users by 2020, who will make up 48% of the total Internet population. Nonetheless, both data confirm that there is going to be a need for businesses to make websites and content available in local languages as well. Read More

The team will focus on taking initiatives to boost India’s ranking on the Global Innovation Index, which is presently 66. They will review and evaluate the measures taken by educational institutions and incubators to promote innovation in the country, and advise steps to grow the same. Read More

Paytm to Invest Rs 1000 Cr to Grow its eCommerce Business

Noida-based technology firm Paytm, which recently spun off its eCommerce vertical into a new entity – Paytm E-commerce Services, is putting in Rs 1000 crore to boost the same. The Alibaba-backed company, succeeded in its core payment business, however could not scale its eCommerce marketplace in the midst of bigger rivals in the same space.

The company had recently raised a new round of $60 million from Mountain Capital, however that investment would be deployed entirely in building and launching its payments bank. The company would be raising new investment solely for the eCommerce venture as well. Alibaba holds about 40% stake in Paytm and is planning to enter B2C eCommerce space in India directly. Read More

Alibaba Making Partnerships to Scale B2B eCommerce in India

Meanwhile, Alibaba is focussing on bolstering its B2B platform in India. It is building partnerships with different logistics and lending firms in the country to foster the sellers on its platform. It is tying up with DHL and Delhivery for providing domestic and international logistics support, and has partnered with Aditya Birla Group’s NBFC arm, IDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, to provide financial support to Indian sellers.

The Indian entity was formed in 2013, and has been profitable since then. However the company is now getting more serious about ramping up its platform and scaling it faster. Read More